I’m ashamed to say my own home state of Missouri has just jumped onto the anti-capitalism bandwagon and in the sleaziest, most deceitful, crony-capitalistic way imaginable.
I’ve written a couple of blog posts about how state legislators are protecting those that pay for their campaigns by passing laws to prevent Tesla from selling automobiles directly to consumers. First it was Texas and then it was New Jersey. When it comes to sneaky and underhanded my beloved Missouri has them both beat.
Let me reiterate quickly for those who don’t want to read the other blogs.
Tesla Motors wants to sell cars directly to consumers. Most states have what is called a Franchise Law where automobile dealerships purchase cars from the manufacturer and then sell them to consumers. This adds a “middle-man” to the process. The middle-man, in this case the franchisers, make a lot of money mostly on service and financing for the cars but also on the sale itself.
In New Jersey, Texas, and other states the legislature is trying to pass a law making it illegal for the manufacturer of a car to sell it directly to the people. In Missouri they’ve simply changed a couple of lines of existing law and inserted the alterations into an existing bill that has nothing to do with the issue. Disgusting.
The major proponent of the change in wording is Republican Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City who has been agitating against Tesla’s business model since it was first announced. He is a former car dealer. Kehoe, like most so-called Conservative Republicans, is nothing more than a greedy lap-dog slurping up the money the auto-industry here in Missouri gives him. Not that Democrats are any better but Republicans claim to be all about capitalism. They aren’t, it’s Crony Capitalism at its finest.
Those who promote this ban talk about a fair playing field and what’s best for the consumer but they are simply the bought and paid for slaves of industry. They don’t want what is best for you; they want what is best for those who pay for their campaigns.
To give you an example of how deeply entrenched is our Plutocracy and Crony-Capitalism take a guess as to how much money State Senator Mike Kehoe raised to finance his campaign in 2010. This is not a Senator of the United States. This is a State Senator running a campaign in Jefferson City with its population of about 43,000 people.
Have you guessed yet?
Did you guess over half a million dollars? That’s right. For one State Senator from a middle to small-sized state like Missouri. You wonder why politicians kneel to the money? Money is completely entrenched and politicians are totally enslaved by it. Freedom, bah.
Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Broken Throne
Next Release: The Black Sphere
Where I find the Tesla topic interesting is how certain companies can be on one side or the other of public opinion. For Tesla – eliminating the local business is great for the country! For Wal-Mart, eliminating local businesses is bad for the country?
Franchise laws are interesting. All of the major auto manufacturers would love to get rid of the franchise rules. But ‘Tesla’ is a “Cool Company”. They are the only auto company that can make eliminating dealerships a winning issue for them.
If Ford or GM tried to eliminate the franchise system, public opinion would likely be decidedly against them.
If Tesla is successful, the other manufacturers will likely try and follow suit. They’d have to – the cost advantages are great. So the stakes are high for the dealers.
Before we eliminate franchise laws though, don’t forget that one of the reasons for these laws is to protect the smaller entity from the larger. Franchise laws apply to many industries.
It is very tempting for a franchisor to yank a franchisee after the market has been established. (Let the franchisee be the trailblazer and take the risk. After the risk of market entry has been eliminated, eliminate the franchisee). Reasonable regulation of the market, in this case, creates value, as participants have protections in those regulations.
The largest tax payers of many local governments are centered around the franchise auto dealers. Both in sales tax and ‘special’ property taxes for Car Dealer lots. Quickly eliminating this revenue from a jurisdiction will be painful.
I don’t have a problem with Tesla’s business model, but the opposition against the model is not all ‘corrupt crony capitalists.’ — although I’ve dealt with car dealer owners and ‘corrupt crony capitalist’ would be a fair description of a few of them. But there are legit public policy concerns about the elimination of the system.
Thank you for the post Ed,
It’s a complex subject to be certain and the manufacturers did try to sell their own cars years back but it didn’t work out.
The big difference I see with Tesla is the theory the electric motor requires much less service which is the heart of dealer profits.
I think this business model is inevitable with the modern world for more than just cars. People want to purchase directly and it does make financial sense.
Local governments, as you say, have been living off the back of the profits of dealerships for too long. As capitalists are prone to saying, those prices are passed along to consumers.
I’m all for smaller government revenue and cheaper cars.
Thanks for the comment as always!
Tom